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Directed by: David Twohy Starring: Vin Diesel, Cole Hauser, Keith David A passenger ship crash lands on a desert planet in a trinary star system just prior to a rare multisolar eclipse that allows the planet's light-sensitive carnivorous insect population free access to terrorize the surface. Vin Diesel becomes the survivors' best hope, as the murderous but night-vision-enabled Riddick. Following the visually well done crash landing sequence, the first act gets bogged down in dialog and establishing scenes, interrupted by a handful of creepy serial-killer-is-stalking-us moments. While it allows the characters to develop more substance than in the average slasher flick, you don't necessarily end up caring about them any more. And since most of the secondary cast turns in forgettable performances anyway, tighter editing could have improved the first forty minutes or so. The plot picks up once darkness approaches, and though things start becoming predictable, the movie doesn't drag. Taken for what it is, a B-level sci-fi/horror/action flick, Pitch Black does everything expected of it, delivering a fairly satisfying movie on a third the budget of the average Jerry Bruckheimer bloated explosion festival and without the ham-handed glurge. The movie takes an interesting setup and places it in an impressively designed and detailed setting. And even if it gets a bit formulaic, it's worth seeing at least once. Whether it warranted a sequel is still debatable. RATING: 3.5 PROS: Visually impressive; Vin Diesel's character less annoying than his usual roles CONS: Long first act needs editing; Formulaic; Probably used to justify making of The Fast and the Furious, XXX ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134847/
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May 8, 2004 01:50
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I enjoyed this much and I think that Chronicles of Riddick, a prequil to Pitch Black, may shed some light where the Pitch Black failed to.
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May 8, 2004 02:13
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The intro is simply fantastic, regardless of the budget. The buildup in the beginning is perfect; when I first watched it, I thought Riddick was going to be the antagonist. Obviously this changed when the creatures appeared, but the change wasn't always clear as black and white (or night/day if you prefer) since we couldn't ignore Riddick's criminal past (even though we knew nothing of it). Does he actually care about the people he is saving? His true character is a mystery. I also thought the conflict between the cop and Riddick was entertaining, as where the diverse characters who constituted the passanger manifest. This is one of my favorite sci-fi movies: it manages to be stylish and intelligent without being shallow or pretentious, and has an original plot to boot. Cons: Could have elaborated a bit more on the character history. The ending could've been a bit better too. Final score: 4.5/5 hillaryous clinton fucked around with this message at 05:42 on May 8, 2004 |
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May 8, 2004 03:47
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The movie was good until the creatures showed up. The tension that the movie held about Riddick was awesome, and some of the imagery was incredible, but once the creatures appear, things somehow took a turn for the incredibly cheesy. 3/5
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May 17, 2004 15:25
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I enjoyed most of this movie. My only real complaint was that I didn't care for the lack of transitions between scenes in the early part of the movie, felt disjointed. Vin Diesal did a very convincing job as Riddick, treading that line between cold-hearted killer and honorable warrior very well. The beginning and ending sequences w/ the female pilot were especially good at bringing up the morality issue. Definitely worth seeing. 4/5
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May 17, 2004 16:53
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Sets itself up as a horror movie but it becomes clear that the director wanted to tell the story of a man called Riddick in a sci-fi environment. The survivors of a cargoship crash struggle to survive when a planetary eclipse unleashes millions of vicious monsters, all very hungry. From there on, the group starts to tear itself apart as individual members look only to their own safety. Eventually one of the crew, Radha Mitchell, must push herself past her instinctive need for survival to save the rest of the passengers. As maninacape said, it's intelligent when it makes its points and changes its characters. Mitchell's character tries to jetison the passengers in the beginning of the movie to save her own skin, but by the end of the movie she's risking her life to save them. The cold-hearted criminal is even changed by the end, and the setup is done so well that you can believe it. It's also very stylish and Diesel is very intimidating and interesting as the predatory ex-con. The other characters were decent enough, although some were clearly just shark bait, like Keith David's various sons who we never bother to learn the names of. The special effects (besides the opening crash, which was awesome) are also lacking, most likely due to budget concerns, but since their section of the movie is in the dark, it isn't as terrible as other CGI of its time. 4/5, and I'm really looking forward to Chronicles of Riddick both for its old-school interplanetary scifi setting and the continuation of Riddick's story. Aberration posted:I enjoyed this much and I think that Chronicles of Riddick, a prequil to Pitch Black, may shed some light where the Pitch Black failed to. Knight fucked around with this message at 18:42 on May 17, 2004 |
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May 17, 2004 18:31
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I did not get what I expected from this film. I expected a monster driven survival/horror flick like Alien, and instead I got something that as it went on, became a character driven film about an anti-hero that we never get to know quite well enough. No one in the film is entirely sympathetic (except perhaps the Imam and his followers who are very minor characters) and several characters have marked changes of heart throughout. The plot is surprisingly smart, even if the dialogue is hokey at points. In the end, I'm excited to know there's a sequel because I'm very interested in learning more about Riddick. Hell, based on the film, I'm even going to get the Xbox game (which is a prequel) to learn the backstory. Much better than Twohy's previous crap "The Arrival." If this is a cult film, sign me up to drink the Kool-aid. Cons: Could have used a LOT more background, considering the fact that it was made on a relative shoestring and they could not have anticipated a sequel and the prequel videogame. Would leave one very unsatisfied if they didn't know there was more to come.
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May 29, 2004 04:17
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quote:Knight came out of the closet to say: Holy poo poo, I was under the impression it was a prequil. Interesting.
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May 29, 2004 05:31
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This movie was terrible in many many ways, however it was also the first movie i've ever seen, or maybe even noticed Vin Diesel. His character basically saved this movie from 0.5 rating of wanting to slash my wrists to a somewhat average movie. I'm glad he's up for making more movies based around him, because I love the anti-heros. We need more of those, definitely. 3/5
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May 29, 2004 22:07
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The anti-hero story is very interesting and like the above, I agree that Vin fits that role pretty good. For such a low budget, the imagery was good and believable. I picked up the DVD and it has some features in it that are pretty good. It also explains Riddick a little more than in the movie. Apperantly they're making a cartoon which involves the journey in the skiff to New Mecca, where The Chronicles starts. I think its made by the Animatrix guys too. The only thing which I think this movie could have done more of is fighting. Sever lack of hand-to-hand pointy thingie killing. 4/5 edit: It was just on Sci-Fi Mustache Ride fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Jun 3, 2004 |
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Jun 3, 2004 00:57
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I think the script, while a bit formulaic, was pretty solid. The directing was a bit off in places; I think that the director was trying to show off some fancy, creative shots in some places and it just wound up looking crappy. I actually didn't hate Vin Diesel in this movie: He was well cast. Also, Claudia Black was in it, which makes me happy. An above-average Sci-Fi flick.
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Jun 6, 2004 07:13
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Not that impressive, but not terrible either.
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Jun 16, 2004 21:55
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Movie Caveman say, "Movie is cheaper when set is covered in darkness!" That said, I didn't really care for this movie. Yeah, Vin Diesel has some pretty good character here, but the pacing is just bad. As death comes flying at everyone, they just STAND AROUND. They could have actually lost less lives if people didn't STAND AROUND and gawk. By the time they're running through the dark from creatures, I'm thinking "Good lord, these people deserve to die" because their chances were looking less viable than an entire Away Team of red-shirt Ensigns thanks to their own incompetence. Of course, at the very end, the female lead is hurried by her companions to HURRY HURRY LET'S GO even though they're sitting in a bright ship cabin and have a whole lot of time to, you guessed it, STAND AROUND. 2.5. The first fourty minutes were good, didn't care for the rest.
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Jun 19, 2004 14:37
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quote:mr_knowitall came out of the closet to say: knife? shiv?
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Jun 20, 2004 19:03
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